


The Taste Of Paint

by orphan_account



Category: My Chemical Romance, The Used
Genre: (a lot of it), Cuddling, Fluff, Kissing, M/M, Painter Gerard, Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge/In Love And Death era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-15
Updated: 2017-10-15
Packaged: 2019-01-17 17:21:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,278
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12370413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Gerard is unhappy with his artwork. Bert reassures him.(Alternatively: I was sad and decided to indulge myself with some fluffy Gerbert)





	The Taste Of Paint

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first fanfic I'm posting since 2013. It is also my first featuring Gerard and Bert. It might be out of character - sorry!  
> English is not my native language, so feel free to correct any mistakes.   
> Constructive criticism is always appreciated!

For some reason, Gerard would always get emotional if he was still awake late at night. Bert’s used to it by now, but the first time it happened, he was not.

He had already gone to sleep; Gerard on the other hand stayed up and painted. He was working on a beautiful piece - a landscape of sorts, situated on the edge of an abyss, with a stunning blood red sky in the background. Well, at least it was beautiful in Bert's opinion. The painter himself didn't find it so, and kept reworking little details and rethinking the color palette until he got sick of it, and then some more. 

“You're trying too hard, Gee”, Bert had told him before going to bed. “The painting already looks great, don't overdo it.”

The clean-shaven man raised his eyes from the canvas. “Being a good painter is my dream and you can't convince me it's not worth defending”, he stated, completely unfazed.

“Your dreams are more than worth defending”, Bert replied patiently, “but you might want to tone down on wanting to be perfect.”

“Look, I don't want to be perfect, because that's not possible. I just want this to be the best I can do. And I know I can do better. Just wait.”

“I mean, you're only stressing yourself out, but okay. I've gotta rest my eyes. I would recommend you come to bed with me and finish this in the morning.”

“No”, Gerard shook his head. “I think I'm almost done. Give me… an hour, at most.”

“It's past 1am already”, protested Bert. He walked up to Gerard and pressed a kiss to the taller man’s neck, right below a smear of black paint. Even though the skin touched by his lips was clean, Bert felt a weak taste of paint anyway.

“Huh… what are you doing?” Gerard spoke in a pleasantly surprised tone. 

“Trying to convince you to go with me”, Bert murmured against his neck, making his boyfriend's skin crawl. “I could make sure you stop thinking about art. Unless that art was, like, a nude painting of me.”

Gerard laughed warmly and reached back to stroke Bert's face. “I love you, but not this time, mmkay? I won't be able to relax until I finish this. Go without me and sleep well.”

Bert pouted, but decided not to push too much. “As you wish. You're missing out, though.”

They kissed goodnight and Bert left Gerard alone with his painting. Many paintings actually; aside from the one on the canvas, the room was filled with a variety of finished and half-finished pieces. Bert found it rather peculiar. It was one of the things he liked about dating an artist - always being surrounded by new art.

He undressed to just boxers and a T-shirt and lied under the sheets, waiting for sleep to come. It took less than fifteen minutes for him to drop off. He had no idea how much time had passed until he was woken by an angry-sounding groan, followed by the sound of a wall being kicked. 

“Gee? Was that you?” he shouted sleepily. There was no answer, so Bert decided to get up and check up on his boyfriend. He walked into Gerard slouched on the floor, his face a mix of frustration and misery.

“What's going on?” Bert asked concernedly. Gerard let out a long, sad sigh.

“It's not working out. No matter what I do, it doesn't look right. I was so sure it would be my best piece yet, but apparently not.”

Bert extended his hand and helped Gerard get up. Then he pulled him into a tight hug, rubbing circles on Gerard’s back in order to soothe him.

“I already told you you're trying too hard”, he spoke quietly. “You're such a perfectionist.”

“I’m not.”

“Yes, you are. But that's normal for artists, I guess. My point is, your paintings will never look the way you imagined them, but other people don't know that. To me for example, this piece looks amazing. I’d much rather hang it on my wall than some Picasso or Monet.”

“Bert…” Gerard examined him for a while before smiling reluctantly. “Thank you. It's so frustrating though. Everyone says art is liberating, and it definitely is, to an extent. But even it has its limits.”

“Exactly. Do you know what has no limits though? Guess”, Bert prompted him. Gerard raised an eyebrow and remained quiet. “The answer is my love for you.”

“That's so cliché! I love it”, Gerard laughed and kissed his boyfriend on the cheek. “I love you”, he added. Bert leaned in for another kiss, this time on the lips.

“Can we please go to bed now?” he asked after pulling away. “It's… actually I have no idea what time it is, but it's late as fuck.”

“Yeah, it must be around two”, Gerard agreed. “I'm gonna go wash my hands and join you in a moment.”

“Alright.” Bert smiled at him. “Oh, Gee? Make sure you wash all the paint off, because I'm definitely gonna check.”

Gerard made a surprised face that bore an uncanny resemblance to the ‘white guy blinking’ meme. Bert just shook his head and laughed before returning to bed. His boyfriend came in after a few minutes, took off his shirt and threw it across the room. Bert watched with fondness; it was a familiar gesture which brought back good memories and he could never get tired of it.

After Gerard joined him under the sheets, wearing underwear and a tank top, Bert immediately cuddled up to him and kissed his neck. Gerard's skin didn't taste like paint this time; it mostly tasted like Gerard, and vaguely like soap. It was a major improvement.

“I see you washed it all off”, he said. “Good job.”

“Oh, so that's what you meant”, Gerard chuckled. “I almost missed that smear. I must've scratched my neck without noticing.”

“Mhm. You're always so absentminded when you paint. It's like you get lost in yourself completely”, Bert pointed out. “And that must be what makes you so good at it. Not perfect though, because that's not possible. You can't always just forget that.”

“But I could try.” Gerard took a deep breath, thinking about what he wanted to say. “I love art a whole lot and I'm just striving to be better, you know? And I can't become better if I don't challenge myself.”

“Well, how about I challenge you, for a change?”

“I'm listening”, he responded, mildly intrigued.

“I challenge you to love you more than anything in the world.” Bert punctuated his words by gently kissing Gerard on the lips. “Disclaimer: it's really hard though. I only know one person who managed to pull it off.”

“I wonder who that could be”, Gerard grinned and pulled his boyfriend closer. “You're a treasure, Bert. I'm afraid I’ll never love myself more than anything, but I'll try to love myself second best after the world's greatest boyfriend, also known as you. Okay, third best after you and art. Third on the list of things I love.”

“Is cuddling also high on the list?”

“Definitely”, Gerard nodded. “Especially if it's with the world's greatest boyfriend. His stubble is kind of scratchy, but the rest of him is soft and warm.”

“Glad to be of any service, then.” Bert lovingly brushed Gerard's dark hair away from his forehead. “But the stubble is staying. It makes me look cooler.”

“If you say so”, Gerard laughed softly. “Goodnight, babe.”

“Goodnight”, Bert responded and kissed him one last time. They lied in the dark, comfortably wrapped in blankets and each other's arms until they fell asleep.

**Author's Note:**

> The first person to spot all the song references gets a gold star :D


End file.
